NEW DELHI: A passenger train derailed in southern India on Friday after a boulder fell on the tracks, killing at least 10 people with more bodies still trapped in the wreckage, officials said.

Scores of passengers were also injured in the crash that occurred on Friday morning near Anekal, about 40 kilometres from the southern city of Bangalore.

Federal Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu said some carriages were derailed after a boulder fell on the tracks as the inter-city express train was travelling from Bangalore to southern Ernakulam.

“Total deaths are 10,” senior Bangalore railways officer Rajiv Pratap Sharma said.

Law Minister Sadananda Gowda, who rushed to the accident site early on Friday, said “some dead bodies are still inside”, indicating that the death toll could rise.

TV footage showed rescue workers using metal cutters and other equipment to retrieve those trapped, while others were clearing the site and repairing the damaged tracks.

Published in Dawn, February 14th, 2015

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